Supreme Court weighs role of IQ scores in debate over execution of disabled people
Source: ABC News
December 10, 2025, 5:11 AM
More than 20 years ago, the Supreme Court outlawed the execution of intellectually disabled people convicted of capital crimes as "cruel and unusual" punishment forbidden by the Eighth Amendment.
In a major case from Alabama before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the justices are asked to clarify who qualifies as "intellectually disabled" and what role intelligence quotient -- also known as IQ -- test scores play in making the determination.
Joseph Clifton Smith, an Alabama man who brought the case, confessed to a 1997 murder during a robbery, but challenged his death sentence on grounds he has had "substantially subaverage intellectual functioning" since a young age.
Smith has taken five separate IQ tests over nearly 40 years, scoring 75 in 1979, 74 in 1982, 72 in 1998, 78 in 2014 and 74 in 2017. People below 70 are generally considered to have an intellectual disability, but major American medical groups urge a holistic assessment that also looks at social and practical skills.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-weighs-role-iq-scores-debate-execution/story?id=128146026
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One of the main problems is that the final "score" is determined by dividing the result by the person's age. The older the test-taker is, the lower the score just because he or she is older than the last time they took the test. Also there are language barriers that might indicate the person's educational level, or their facility with English, but not necessarily the person's intelligence or understanding.
"Just because I'm dumb it doesn't mean I'm stupid."
